Africa Media Review for August 9, 2017

Kenya: Raila Odinga Disputes Preliminary Results
Presidential candidate Raila Odinga early Wednesday termed the outcome that saw him trail Uhuru Kenyatta by more than one million votes as “sham, fictitious and fake”. Mr Odinga said the results were the “work of a computer” and did not reflect the will of voters, a claim denied by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. He asked IEBC to provide forms 34A and 34B to help verify the outcome. He spoke moments after his chief agent Musalia Mudavadi and Nasa lawyer James Orengo made similar claims at Bomas of Kenya. Mr Orengo said forms 34A and 34B should be the basis of the results but the commission was just keying in results without scanning the forms as required. … Mr Orengo said what the IEBC was doing is a replica of 2007 and 2013, where the electoral body transmitted results without a basis for verification. “According to us, the results are null and void because they are not backed by any evidence. We will not keep quiet but reject them,” he said. Goobjoog

Kenyan Cops Open Fire on Opposition Supporters Protesting Poll Results, at Least 1 Killed
Kenyan police say officers opened fire on people protesting election results in an opposition stronghold in southwestern Kenya, killing 1 person. Leonard Katana, a regional police commander, said the shooting happened on Wednesday when protesters clashed with security forces in South Mugirango constituency in Kisii County. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has alleged fraud in the country’s general election, saying hackers infiltrated the database of the country’s election commission and manipulated the results. His comments followed the release of results from Tuesday’s election showing President Uhuru Kenyatta with a wide lead over Odinga after votes from the vast majority of polling stations had been counted. News24

Al Shabaab Hijacks Vehicles Carrying Voters in Mandera
Gunmen believed to be Al Shabaab militia hijacked three vehicles in an attack along Lafey-Omar Jillow Road in Mandera County. Regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh said targeted vehicles were for civilians, adding that they believe the attackers who were armed were Al Shabaab terrorists who may have crossed from Somalia. Saleh said no injuries were reported in the Monday afternoon incident and a team of security agents had been sent to the area to pursue the gang that is suspected to have crossed to Somalia with the four wheel drive cars. … Similar attacks have been witnessed in the area recently, last week terrorists hijacked a vehicle belonging to a politician with its party colours and escaped with it. Radio Shabelle

Four Policemen Killed in Attack in Egypt’s North Sinai – State Newspaper
Four Egyptian policeman were killed on Wednesday when gunmen fired at a patrol car in the northern Sinai city of al-Arish, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported. Authorities in Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, were on the hunt for the attackers, the paper said. Attacks on security forces have been frequent in Egypt since the army, led by general-turned-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. The violence has been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula, where Egypt is fighting an insurgency, but has also expanded to hit Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the country’s largest minority. Reuters

Tunisian Security Forces Kill Senior Militant in Ambush – Sources
Tunisian armed forces killed two Islamist militants including a senior commander in a mountain raid near the western border with Algeria late on Tuesday, security sources said. “Two terrorists were killed and weapons were seized during an ambush that National Guard units set up against a terrorist group,” in Kasserine region, National Guard spokesman Colonel Major Khelifa Chibani told state news agency TAP. Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM identified the commander as Mourad Chaieb, the Algerian leader of Okba Bin Nafaa, a group that has skirmished for years with security forces in Tunisia’s mountainous interior. Its members are mainly aligned with al Qaeda’s north African branch, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has a presence over the border in eastern Algeria. Some fighters have switched their loyalty to Islamic State. Reuters

Sudan: ‘Upsurge in Attacks on Civilians in Darfur’
There has been a marked upsurge in targeted attacks by Sudanese government forces on civilians in Darfur since May, according to the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS). The human rights monitor recorded several attacks on civilians and villages in the past months. Government forces clashed with two rebel groups – the Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minawi (SLA-MM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council (SLA-TC) – in East, Central, and North Darfur states between 28 May and 6 June. Tens of thousands of civilians were displaced during the clashes and subsequently as a result of attacks by government forces and allied militia on civilian areas, the ACJPS said yesterday. Radio Dabanga

South Sudan: 10 Cholera Cases, Five Deaths Recorded in Eastern Lakes State
Some 10 confirmed cholera cases were recorded with five deaths in Batbar County in South Sudan’s Eastern Lakes State since the last two weeks, a local official said. Matbar County Commissioner James Kolang told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that the cases of cholera were recorded in Matbar, Yirol and Adhang areas since the beginning of May. He confirmed that the outbreak killed at least five people and left nearly 10 others sick. He pointed out that the patients were taken to Yirol Hospital for treatment. “Our situation in Matbar now is very bad due to cholera. There is no any improvement in terms of cholera cases, “he said. Radio Tamazuj

‘Too Many, Too Many’ Migrants Raped, Shot in Libya, Says Nigerian Survivor
Anna (the name she chose to protect her identity for security reasons) is one of more than 16,000 young Nigerian women—including many underage girls—who’ve been trafficked into Italy by Nigerian crime syndicates over the past two years, joining thousands of Nigerians who now make up nearly half of the street prostitutes working in Italy. Many outreach workers suspect that most of the Nigerian girls, especially the more recent arrivals—although not all—knew before leaving Nigeria that their traffickers would put them to work as prostitutes. Many may have been sex workers before in Nigeria, something charity workers say shouldn’t matter when it comes to helping the women, arguing they are all abused and in need of compassion and help. VOA

UN Backs Italy Bid to Close Migrant Route from Libya
The UN’s new envoy to Libya on Tuesday endorsed Italy’s drive to stem the flow of migrants leaving the north African state for Europe, despite misgivings among human rights groups. Rights campaigners fear Italy’s focus on strengthening the Libyan coastguard to ensure boatloads of migrants are intercepted before reaching international waters could place thousands of people with a right to asylum at serious risk. But Ghassam Salame, a former Lebanese culture minister appointed in June to head UN operations in Libya, described the cooperation between Tripoli and Rome as a “very constructive” way of dealing with an acute problem. News24

Boko Haram Destroyed One Million Houses, 5,000 Classrooms, N1.9 Trillion Properties in Borno – Official
The Borno Government on Tuesday said about 1 million houses and public structures were destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in the 27 local government areas of the state. The insurgents also destroyed properties worth over N1.9 trillion in the past six years. Yerima Saleh, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement, disclosed this at a news conference in Maiduguri. Saleh also said that the insurgents razed down 986, 453 residential homes; 5, 335 classrooms, 201 health facilities, 1, 630 water facilities and 726 power distribution stations and transformers. He added that 800 public structures such as offices, prisons, police posts and other structures were destroyed by the sect members. “The quantum of destruction caused by insurgents is monumental resulting in serious humanitarian crisis. Premium Times

DRC Opposition Mounts ‘Dead City’ Protest against Kabila
Opposition campaigners launched a two-day general strike on Tuesday to pressure Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to set an election date—a day after 12 people were shot dead in an anti-government rampage in the capital. The “dead city” action in Kinshasa, organised well before Monday’s killings, was to turn up the heat on Kabila, who is still in power despite his mandate expiring last year. Business activity was noticeably slower in the morning after the opposition had called on residents to stay home. Two-thirds of shops and banks were closed, AFP journalists reported, as soldiers and police were out in strength to monitor the situation. News24

Jacob Zuma Might Have Won the Vote, but the Party of Mandela has Lost South Africa’s Trust
On Tuesday (Aug.8) South Africa’s president overcame an eighth no confidence vote, despite the mountain of evidence of corrupt conduct that has emerged in recent months. But it may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory—for him and most certainly for his party, the African National Congress (ANC). … There was an air of expectation yesterday that recent allegations of “state capture”—attested to by a welter of evidence from the so-called #guptaleaks—would be enough to persuade a sufficient number of the members of the ruling ANC to support an opposition-sponsored no confidence vote. Quartz